In the continual quest for the cutting-edge, Manhattan is now passé, and Brooklyn is It. Or so I'd understood, until I saw a Time Out New York article entitled, 'Manhattan: the new Brooklyn'. So Manhattan is now the new Brooklyn - which was the old Manhattan. It's all very confusing.

But if you don't mind being a few months out of date, New York's (ex-?)trendiest borough has a lot going for it. If you're tired of the long lines at the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty, and the officious security guards whose only job appears to be to point and say, "Walk this way, ma'am", it's time to take a trip east of the centre.

Only one subway stop from Wall Street, and you'd be forgiven for thinking you were in another city. For one thing, it's quiet, even at rush hour. For another, there are trees. Strolling around the brownstone neighbourhoods of Brooklyn Heights and Carroll Gardens is the perfect antidote to New York's traffic-clogged centre. But this isn't just another suburban borough. Brooklyn has a lot more than just a nice personality.

For a start, there's the bridge. Its two gothic towers standing as gateways at either end, the Brooklyn Bridge stretches almost 487m across the East River. Walking or cycling across it is the classic introduction to the borough, as soaring steel suspension cables vie for your attention with the skyscrapers back in lower Manhattan.

Under the bridge, Fulton Landing, a pier jutting into the river, and the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, just south of the bridge, are prime photo opportunity spots. Take in the views of the Statue of Liberty, lower Manhattan, New York harbour and the other bridges, and watch the locals - and other tourists - go by. The waterfront below Brooklyn Heights, now a decidedly un-picturesque stretch of piers and warehouses, will soon be converted into an 80-acre public park, making the waterfront an even more attractive place for a stroll.

These piers and warehouses used to make up most of this part of Brooklyn, but with rents in Manhattan skyrocketing, many of New York's artists set up camp across the river, turning Brooklyn's empty warehouses into loft apartments. Trendy bars and restaurants weren't long to follow.

One such area is Dumbo, which stands for 'down under the Manhattan Bridge overpass' (New Yorkers love their acronyms). Just next door to leafy, upper middle class Brooklyn Heights, converted concrete warehouses hold some of New York's best clubs and bars, such as Superfine (126 Front Street, Dumbo). A restaurant with Mediterranean-style food, pool tables and a bar area all co-exist in this cavernous style-haven, and paintings by local artists adorn the walls.

But for the ultimate in industrial chic, head to Williamsburg. North of downtown Brooklyn, its galleries, featuring unsung new artists, and hip new restaurants and bars are attracting trendy Manhattanites who are now only too happy to cross the East River.

On the border between Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill, Middle Eastern shops and delicatessens dominate most of Atlantic Avenue. And running off Atlantic Avenue, through the suburbs of Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens, is Smith Street, fast becoming another epicentre of cool. Antique shops, trendy boutiques, cafes and bars line the street - or you can do a detour and explore the quiet suburbs. Halcyon (227 Smith Street, Carroll Gardens) is a good place to head for. Browse the record shop, listen to DJs playing hip-hop and breakbeats, have a drink at the bar and check out the kitsch, retro, mismatched furniture, most of which is for sale. The best thing about the place is its laid-back atmosphere: it's refreshingly attitude-free, compared to similar metropolitan haunts.

Fort Greene is another hip area. Once the home of Spike Lee, the suburb is now full of French restaurants and places like Madiba (195 DeKalb Ave, Fort Greene), a South African restaurant with live jazz where trendy, moneyed Brooklynites prop up the bar. In terms of culture, the Brooklyn Academy of Music is apparently the place to be. One of New York's oldest venues, it hosts cutting-edge theatre, movies, music and performance art.

If all the posturing is getting to you, there are still some bits of Brooklyn that have escaped gentrification. Parts of Williamsburg, as well as areas such as Borough Park, are home to the largest population of practising Jews outside Israel. You can wander around entire neighbourhoods where there is not a single English sign, visit a deli or take a Hassidic Discovery Tour if you're really keen on finding out more about this community. There are also Polish, Russian, Italian and West Indian neighbourhoods, all with their own distinctive characters.

And if its greenery you're after, Prospect Park is set in 526 acres, and was designed by the same architects as Central Park. As well as a corresponding Wollman ice rink, there is a pond and you can rent boats and go horse or bike riding. And the lack of surrounding skyscrapers definitely give it a more peaceful feel. Just north of the park, the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens has one of the world's largest collections of bonsai trees, as well as a profusion of cherry trees and a rose garden.

Next door to the gardens is the Brooklyn Museum of Art, originally planned to be the biggest museum in the world. It contains a patchy array of art and artefacts, ranging from ancient Egyptian carvings to modern art pieces, bewilderingly arranged with little chronological thought. Middle-aged attendants in shoulder pads glare at you and it all feels a bit like a school field trip. The overriding impression is one of incompleteness: one vast hall was empty, apart from a Damien Hirst piece inexplicably banished to one of its corners. A Star Wars exhibition is on now (we could hear the theme music blasting down the stairs while the preparations were underway) so maybe the place has been spruced up a bit. Still, compared to the museums in Manhattan and the PS1 art gallery in Queens, here at least Brooklyn still has a lot of catching up to do.